Easy and Healthy Vegetable and Bean Moroccan Couscous

Hot or cold, Moroccan couscous is my go-to dish when I have no clear dinner plans. I just walk through the produce isle, grab a couple zucchinis, an acorn squash, few carrots, a can of garbanzo beans and pound of couscous and BAM! You have a simple, yet nutritious meal. If you aren’t up to bearing the cold and going to the grocery store, just open your refrigerator and use whatever vegetables that are waiting to be used.

Usually I would make enough couscous pasta to last couple days. In my house, we love to have it for lunch dinner and snack. Do not worry if you have extra cooked grain you can always use it in a salad or soup.

When you are ready to serve the stew, place the couscous in large serving platter, arrange the vegetables and bean over the couscous. Spoon couple spoon of the broth over the couscous to add moisture. Serve the rest of the broth in separate bowl.

Heat the olive oil in heavy pot and saute the onions for few minutes. Add the garlic and the jalapeno peppers. Cook for few seconds and then add the cumin and the coriander. Stir and cook for a minute.

Add the crushed peppers, the tomato paste , salt, black pepper and and 8 cups of water. Stir and bring to a boil

Drop the vegetables, bring back to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes and the vegetables are tender but not over cooked.

Adjust the seasoning, then add the garbanzo beans. Cook for couple minutes.

To make the couscous: bring 3 cups salted water to boil. Drop the couscous pasta, stir, cover and turn off the heat. Allow the couscous to rest for 10 minutes. Drizzle the couscous with about 1 cup of the cooking broth. Use fork to fluff the couscous.

To serve: Mound the couscous on a large platter. Drizzle the couscous with another cup of the cooking broth.

Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and arrange over the top of the couscous. Serve the remaining stew in a separate bowl.

The realistic serving for this dish is 1/2 cup of the cooked couscous and 2 cup of the vegetable, bean and broth mixture. I have not calculated the calories for this dish but there are several program that can give you the exact nutritional content of any food if you enter all the ingredients. I would say the calories for one serving in this dish is about 700 calories. This dish has the good calories, carb, bean protein, vegetables and olive oil.